Chapter 5 (PA)
'Please let me finally die...' 'No,' a feminine voice replied. You know, when you silently beg for death, you usually don't get an answer. At least I hadn't in my times of weakness. Apparently, someone felt my life was too boring and predictable. 'Why?' 'You shall never die. It was never your fate, you shall regenerate and become stronger.' 'Who are you?' 'Death.' 'Why can I never die? I want to be reunited with my family someday!' 'The universe needs you, and so does your family and friends; billions mourn your passing. It is time to return and continue regenerating. You are banned from entering my realm and totally immortal, this is a blessing. Now, return!' I awoke in immense, but bearable pain. Couldn't Death be more specific? 'The universe needs you'. Did I unknowingly piss her off? It didn't really matter, I was stuck in life. My body seemed to be partly healed, mostly my upper body, and my lower body was slowly mending. My ability to absorb power and energy was fine too, it actually seemed stronger. It must have been forcibly evolved. I could tell all of that immense amount of power was all stored within me. I directed five percent of that power to speed up my regeneration, and began directing the rest to other functions. When I checked my own abilities, I discovered that my Durability now bordered on Invulnerability. I was confident enough to piss Zeus off and shrug off his attacks to mess with him, so that didn't need upgrading. I directed the bulk of my absorbed power into permanently upgrading my speed, stamina, agility, and reflexes. Now, I just had to wait until I was fully healed... Line break-remove text and replace. Third Person POV May 10th, 2015. Elsewhere... Nico, son of Hades, experienced a confusing sensation. Grover Underwood awoke from his vegetative state, and had his Empathy Link to Percy Jackson severed. Thanatos was contemplating the meaning of Perseus' name disappearing, after changing color, four days ago. Hazel Levesque, daughter of Pluto, experienced the same confusing sensation as her brother. An Elder Goddess continued aiding in Percy's healing. Poseidon felt his sons presence slowly reappear into existence, and was confused but relieved. Poseidon promptly flashed to Olympus, and summoned the others for a council meeting. The other gods flashed in over the next two minutes. "I have called this meeting for one reason only, to ask one question. Which one of you resurrected Percy?" Poseidon asked, causing shocked exclamations to overtake the Hall of the Gods. "What do you mean, Poseidon?" Zeus questioned angrily. "We were all forbidden to do so by the Fates themselves. Even when we intended to restore him as a god!" "Are you sure it is him, brother?" Hades asked in concern. "We were all forbidden to resurrect him, and our enemies aren't stupid enough too." "Could it have been the Thunderer or Asgardians? I wouldn't think them willing, but Thor and Odin are certainly powerful enough." Athena suggested. "If it wasn't any of you then thats the only other option." Poseidon said in confusion, unwittingly agreeing with Athena. "Wrong!" Three voices called out in unison, the Olympians all turned their heads and saw the three Fates. "Young Percy was resurrected by Lady Death herself and then banned from her realm!" Atropos continued, speaking for the group, and shocking the council into silence. The sad part was that they had never been more productive. "He is currently regenerating, aided by the benevolent persona of Gaea." "Benevolent persona?" Athena asked, snapping herself out of her shock. "The Elder Gods were degenerating into demons, and she was so terrified of degenerating into a demon that she purged herself of her worst traits and became two separate beings. The Gaea the seven fought was a weaker, evil version of her and by defeating her, they destroyed her evil halfs and the evil halfs power returned to the good half." Atropos said. "You didn't honestly believe that even all of the seven could truly defeat a full-powered elder goddess, did you?" Awkward silence... Yes, they apparently thought that. "Well, we have delivered our message. Percy will visit when he fully recovers for a check up with Apollo and then start visiting his family and friends to let them know he's alive and well, before returning to the Avengers." Atropos said, before the Fates flashed away. "Well... I guess I'll return to the sea, now that I have my answers." Poseidon said, before flashing away. Line break-remove text and replace. May 14th, 2015. I had finally finished recovering from the horrific injuries, and I used my limited earth manipulation abilities to created an escape tunnel. I had been tunneling my way out for a minute, restoring the earth as I went, and finally, I surfaced, causing screams from those who saw me. I quickly cleansed myself of filth, excluding the blood. When I looked around I saw that Novi Grad had been restored and cleansed of Ultron parts, and quickly deduced that my family helped out. I teleported away. I arrived at Apollo's temple and knocked the door. Apollo quickly opened it and gestured me inside, where several Olympians were waiting; including my father and Tyson. "Hey, everybody," I said nervously. "Sorry for dying." I added, causing several people to chuckle. "Why are you covered in blood?" Tyson asked. "Because I just recovered from my dirt nap, and these were the clothes that I was wearing when I was horribly injured. By the way, I wanna save these in case I need to use guilt to manipulate Stark in the future." I said, and Apollo nodded and began checking me over. "Well, you have literally broken everything and fully regenerated from it." Apollo said in amusement. "Great work!" He added sarcastically. "You have no lingering damage or issues, so you're at a hundred percent and ready for battle." "Great!" I replied. "Now I just need a bunch of super powerful enemies to fight." "Demons would be a great challenge, but you might get trapped in their realms." Apollo suggested, before getting glared at for even suggesting such a thing. "Nevermind, you would need more power than the Big Three to even stand a chance." More power than the Big Three... An incredibly difficult goal that I could take my time with, or not take my time with. "I'll give you a list of threats that I want gone, Percy. Just please don't die again." Zeus said in exasperation. "I won't. I was forbidden." I replied with a cocky smirk, causing Zeus to roll his eyes. "Well, have fun with that." Zeus said, before suddenly flashing out, before I could look away. "I didn't die from seeing his Divine Form! Awesome!" I said excitedly. "Yes, and I'll be talking with my little brother about that." Poseidon said angrily, before calming himself. "I'm glad you're alive, Percy. I did not take your death well," he added sadly. "What'd you do?" I asked in concern. "When I felt you die, I lost control. I caused a global storm and the seas became far more dangerous than they ever had been. I lashed out at the Avengers," he said, causing my eyes to widen in horror. "Verbally, Percy," he added to my relief. "I need to return to my duties Percy, but Aphrodite wishes to speak with you before you leave. Have fun, and feel free to give me some grandchildren!" Father said, before teleporting out with Tyson. "Later, Apollo, and thanks." I said, before leaving to head over to Aphrodite's. I was calmly walking past Hermes house, when I heard him call me over. I walked over and he handed me an IPad. "Thanks, cuz, but I didn't get you anything." I said in surprise. "It's the list of targets Zeus wants gone." Hermes replied in amusement. "The IPads encrypted and no one but yourself can read it. You do get to keep it though, so you're welcome." "Thanks, I'll start crossing off names when I can." I said, looking over the list. "Some of these might even be fun to fight." "Have fun then, Percy," Hermes said, before leaving to deliver more stuff. I arrived at Aphrodite's Palace minutes later and was let inside by her servants. "Hello, Percy," Aphrodite said revealing herself, and only wearing lingerie and radiating lust. "Hello, heat-seeking mini Percy," she added flirtatiously, looking at my groin. Yep, another inconvenient erection. At least I'm not in a church! "You tend to have that effect on people, especially when you're radiating lust. Did you really invite me here to talk, or are you just trying to seduce me?" I asked, nervously. I wanted her so bad! I just didn't wanna piss off Hephaestus to do it! "Just teasing you, Percy, and showing you what you're missing." Aphrodite said, before summoning and a robe and stopping radiating lust. "I found you a potential wife! You're both a great match!" "You found me a match while everyone believed I was dead?" I asked suspiciously. "Oh, I knew you weren't really dying! The Fates just made me play along!" Aphrodite said. I didn't believe her, but I didn't think she would put me in another bad relationship. I knew where she lived and slept, and the names of several of her children. "Anyway... She's basically a female version of you! She won't judge you for your past or choices. I'll admit, she's fresh out of a relationship that ended badly, but you two will be great together. You can give her a family, and make her happy." "Who is she?" I asked, still skeptical. "Can't tell you that, Percy," Aphrodite said, and received a glare that actually succeeding in scaring her, in return. "Draw me a map to her then. That's a fair compromise." "No," Aphrodite replied in annoyance. "Write her name down?" "No." "This isn't going to work, is it?" "Nope!" Aphrodite replied, popping the p sound in the word. "Teleport me to her?" I asked, and received an annoyed glare. "Transform into her and I'll have sex with you?" I lied. "Not falling for it, Percy." She replied, unamused. "Have I met her before?" "Yes." "Recently?" "Get out, Percy, or I'll curse you with impotence, premature ejaculation, and uncontrollable lust and teleport you into a public place, and then watch you hump everything." Aphrodite replied with a smirk. I had never teleported away that fast before. Over the next several hours, I visited my family and friends. We laughed. We cried. Thalia punched me for being stupid and then hugged me, and received shocked looks from the other Hunters for her 'treason against female-kind'. I checked on Grover and apologized for severing the Empathy Link, but informed him that I wouldn't endanger his well-being any further. Grover seemed to understand, and his family appreciated it. I visited the Seven and they tried convincing me to retire, and got laughed at. I flat out told them that their boring lives would inevitably drive me to pointless suicide attempts. Eventually, it was time to inform the Avengers that I was alive. I quickly snuck into the New Avengers facility, without being detected by any sensors, and then made sure they were all here, and they were. They were all eating. Now, how should I make an entrance? If they were asleep I would have drawn a penis on Starks face and wrote Dickhead on his forehead, or create an illusion of his armors having a barbie theme. I could pretend to be starting a zombie apocolypse, but they're eating, and that would be mean. I couldn't think of anything truly amusing, so I went with the boring option. I dispelled my invisibility and knocked on the dining room doorway, causing a couple to jump to their feet and look at me in shock. "Surprise! Guess who got banished from Death's realm?" I asked, as they all gaped in shock. "You were made a true immortal?" Thor asked in shock, getting confused looks from the others. "Yup. That was confusing as hell, and I usually have to piss someone off to get banned from something." "How the hell are you in one piece though?!" Stark asked in shock, while looking me over. "I constantly regenerated for eight days and was aided by an Elder Goddess. The damage was extensive, that's why it took so long. And careful, the way you are looking at me borders on sexual harassment." I replied, my attempt at levity falling flat, mostly. Only Pietro, Natasha, and Thor laughed. "How extensive?" Rogers asked in concern. "According to my cousin Apollo, I broke every bone in my body, multiple organ failure, massive blood loss to the point that I actually preserved the clothes I was wearing as a trophy, I suffered shock and eventual death, thirty seconds later." Everyone looked absolute horrified. "I'm all better now. I'm actually harder to injure, so cheer up, and eat your food before it gets cold. Now, I'll quit distracting you, and I'll wait in the room with the big screen TV." I said, before leaving the room. I watched an Avatar: The Last Airbender re-run for twenty minutes, until the others finally joined me. "So, Thor explained what a true immortal is to us, and it sounds awesome." Stark said, as he entered the room. I snorted derisively. "I'm lucky that most of my family is immortal. I'll have to provide the others with a form of it though, but eventually they'll all die, even with my best efforts. Fortunately, my best efforts should buy them centuries or more, possibly even a thousand years." "Damn! How can you give people that kind of lifespan?" Stark asked, with more than a little envy. "You can too, just experiment with Extremis like I have. It has a ton of possibilities, ranging from: super-soldiers on par with Cap; or even better physically, technopathy, enhancing intelligence, repairing terminal brain or heart damage. I even wondered if one of my Extremis variants could allow Banner to control the Hulk. Where is he anyway?" "He left the Avengers after the Battle of Sokovia, well a little before the end actually." Rogers replied, eyeing Natasha peripherally. "That sucks." I said, seeming to summarize their thoughts well. "You found a way to use Extremis to grant immortality?" Stark asked in shock. "And other low-level superhuman capabilities, yes. Don't worry, I'm only using animal test subjects that consented to testing." I replied, confusing everyone. "How does an animal consent?" Wanda asked in confusion. Asking the question on everyone's minds. "I can speak to Horses, other equines, and sea creatures, normally and telepathically. Those horses really love their superpowers." "You gave a damn horse superpowers?" Rhodes asked, while looking at me like I was an idiot. "Yup. Are you jealous of Super Horse?" I asked in amusement, causing several people to chuckle or outright laugh at the name. "Maybe a little..." Rhodes replied in annoyance. "Could you create Super Soldiers for the United States military?" "I could, but I doubt that I would. Unless the world started going to hell and they were badly needed. I distrust all world governments, and while an army of Extremis enhanced soldiers aren't a threat to me, they are a threat to others." "Even America?" Rogers asked. "Yes, all world governments. Rogers, what would you say if I said their were forces in this world that have caused most wars in history, doomed thousands to starvation, rape, slavery, and torment? And their still around causing suffering, and decieving the masses and dooming them further." "I would say we round them up and imprison them," He replied, without a moments hesitation. "Would you like to know what this force is?" I asked, and Rogers replied in the affirmative. "Politicians," I replied, causing literally everyone to laugh at Rogers. "The sad part is that's entirely true. Politics is a source of major suffering." "Aren't you a little young to cynical?" Rhodes asked. "Aren't you way to old to be naive and idealistic?" I asked in return, and caused the younger people to laugh at Rhodes. "If I sold to governments, I would have to account for spies in their ranks, reverse-engineering by the customer nation or it's enemies, and then Super Soldiers are human beings which opens up several other vulnerabilities. Humans have limits, families, weaknesses, secrets they wouldn't want exposed, and even then everyone has a price; be it money, power, or appealing to their baser urges. The deaths which could occur due to my blind faith in human nature would be on my conscience." "I understand what you're saying, but what are you going to do with the Extremis?" Rhodes asked. "Give it to my mortal family to stave off the inevitable. I may even vault it and go with magical means to grant immortality and an enhanced condition." "Out of curiousity, what do you do with such dangerous technology?" Nick Fury asked. I knew that he was digging for information, but I did want to ease everyone's minds... "Tech like Extremis or battle-suits like Stark builds I put in a vault that only I can open. Extinction level, the nasty stuff, I remove all traces of designs of such technology, so that I am the only vulnerability. It would be there, but still very well protected. They would have to take me prisoner, then either break the absolutely massive amount of psychic shields I have or torture me. At this point, most of what they can do is just horrible foreplay, and barely even worth calling torture." I said, carefully monitoring their thoughts and facial expressions. "You have a very high opinion of yourself." Fury commented. "Only because I'm fully aware of how amazing and bad ass I am." I replied completely seriously, causing several people to laugh. "He is indeed amazing, he defeated Banner when he was enraged!" Thor added. "And wasn't even really trying. Fighting you was more fun and that was stopped before we could really get started." I said in a bored tone. "We should have a rematch in a few years by the way, on another planet though." "I look forward to it!" Thor said. "Do you still intend to remain an Avenger?" Cap interjected. "Of course. I've agreed to eliminate a couple threats for the Olympians, but it's nothing major and won't interfere with our missions." "Good. Any threats we can help with?" Rogers asked. "Nah. The Olympians like keeping everything in-house, and the missions are easy. I can do them at anytime and not even be challenged." I said, not willing to bring them on my jobs. I knew that my family wouldn't trust them with their secrets and I wasn't quite there yet either. I needed to get to know them all much better, and even then I doubt that I would bring them along. "If you're sure, then okay." Rogers said awkwardly. "I would consider asking you all for help, but Olympus has it's own armies and teams for these threats. They would have to be my backup for security reasons; even if I couldn't do the missions solo." I added, trying to ease any awkwardness and soothe any bruised ego's. "I really don't like foreign entities having armies that operate in countries without their knowledge." Fury stated, offending Thor and I, and getting nods of agreement from Rhodes, Stark, and Vision. "We use our armies to protect the world against threats it can't even fight against. Humanity would literally be extinct without this divine interferance, or they would simply be raised for food for monsters or titans." I said in slight anger. "And the Avengers are foreign entities operating in countries without their knowledge or permission. So..." "Percy is right. Asgard has prevented human extinction during the Asgard-Jotunheim war, and The First Dark Elf Conflict, and the more recent Second Conflict. You may not like it Fury, but you do have to deal with it. We always have and always will protect Midgard." Thor added, far more angrily and passionately than I was. "Yeah. The various pantheons have to maintain armies and deploy them on earth. Most of these threats can't even be defeated by the Avengers, and they require specific skills and a high degree of personal power." "Okay, we'll take your word for it." Stark said diplomatically. "Anyway, how long have you been back?" "Several hours." I replied. "And your just visiting us now?" Maria asked. "Do you feel the love guys?" Maria asked sarcastically. "I had to get checked out on Olympus, deal with some minor family drama, Aphrodite wanted to meet with me, and then I had to visit some other family members. I came here after that. Oh, and don't worry Maria, I'll make you feel loved later." I said, winking after saying the last part, and causing her to smirk sexily in my direction. "You had sex with Aphrodite again?" Thor asked in amusement. "No. If I did, I would probably be hiding from her husband and boyfriend." I replied, causing Thor to smirk. "I'd rather not give those two a common enemy. Ares was intolerable when he found out that I was f**king his girlfriend and daughter, and filming it." I continued, amusing almost everyone but Rogers and Maria. "Your not filming us having sex are you?" Maria asked, somewhat angrily. "No, I would ask first. I don't secretly film sex with my lovers." I said, somewhat offended, but not angrily. Maria looked relieved and somewhat remorseful for accusing me. "It's fine, you don't know me that well." I said, to her relief. "Well, not personality wise." I added with a smile. "So, what did a sex goddess want with you then?" Rogers asked. "She's found me a perfect match. I'm not sure how to feel about that, but she got my interest. I managed to get just enough information to possibly locate whoever she is with an algorithm, and then had to run like hell before Aphrodite followed through on her threat to curse me for annoying her." "You're practically engaged and you're still going to have sex with Maria?" Rogers asked in shock, getting nervous looks from the others. "The last time Aphrodite meddled in my love-life, my girlfriend betrayed me for power and I ended up sleeping with two hundred women for years afterward. So, calling me practically engaged is going way overboard when the relationship might not even work out. It'll take me a few days to create the algorithm, a few hours to type in the names, and then who knows how long to narrow down the huge list of every girl I've ever met to a just a few. Besides, cheating isn't in my nature, and if I already knew who she was then I wouldn't even consider having sex with other women, because I would feel guilty due to already knowing." I said, actually getting angry at the implication. "Sorry, Percy. I, uh, didn't like the idea of you stringing Maria along." Rogers replied, sheepishly. "So, I only have you all to myself for a few more days?" Maria asked. "Days that I would love to fill with marathon sex, or as much sex as possible." "I'm game," Maria said in reply. Most of the Avengers just looked amused by our shamelessness.